The phylogeny of Critical Zone Observatories, or how to better structure existing observation networks to match the whole system approach
Résumé
Existing observation networks were often built independently from each other, with their own scientific objectives, funding mechanisms and institutional constraints and often on a very disciplinary basis. The observation challenges of the “new climatic regime” in the Anthropocene requires a new type of observational platforms, relying on a scientific systemic approach and documenting the various compartments of the critical zone at spatial and temporal scales consistent with space and time scales of the processes. One of the strategy is to design these new observatories from scratch (e.g. the US Critical Zone Observatories or the National Ecology Observation network (NEON) in the USA). In France, we made the choice to rely on existing long term observatories and to build synergies between existing networks to address critical zone, ecological and socio-ecological researches. To build these synergies, diagnostic tools able to provide a quick and informative representation of data collected at existing sites are required. In this paper, we present the Ozcar-tree that was designed to represent the diversity of critical zone sites and observatories that exist and that have been founded by different research institutions in France over the last 40 years and that are now gathered in the OZCAR Critical Zone network. The representation includes three main characteristics: the spatial scales of investigation (from the plot scale to the continental-scale catchment), the diversity of monitored objects (catchments, glaciers, peatlands, aquifers…), and the institutional dimension (labeling and founding at the national level). The Ozcar-tree mimics the phylogenetic tree of life. It offers a visualization tool able to capture the philosophy and rationale of the network and is useful to improve the communication with the neighboring infrastructures, users and stakeholders. The branches of the tree represent the nested monitored scales, with the small branches of the tree representing monitored parcels or small catchments. The trunks represent networks of sites investigating the same object. For monitored catchments, the representation directly shows the various sampled scales and their nested organization from upstream to downstream. At each site, colored pie charts allow the quick visualization of the types of data that are collected, each part of the pie being a compartment of the critical zone (atmosphere, soil water, aquifers, vegetation, snow, ice…). This visualization directly shows the focus of the various sites, the completeness of measurements conducted by the different scientists, but also the missing compartments. It also shows that, if the network, as a whole is able to sample the various compartments and variables required for implementing critical zone science, it is rarely the case when considering individual sites. In particular, the Ozcar-tree shows that OZCAR observatories poorly sample the biological compartment. This representation is open to ecological and socio-ecological communities and may serve as a template for fostering collaboration with ecological and socio-ecological communities and networks and implementing observation platforms at the scale of changing territories.
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